Following India’s exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup, captain Rohit Sharma along with Virat Kohli did not play a 20-over game for India for over a year. It seemed a new era had dawned. With the ODI World Cup approaching and the World Test Championship final also taking place in 2023, the seniors prioritised the longer formats and several talented youngsters were given a go in T20Is under the leadership of Hardik Pandya instead. It was assumed the two had quietly moved on for good from T20Is, with the talent of those coming through evident.

There was some surprise, therefore, when the two returned for the T20I series against Afghanistan last month. Kohli sat out the first game and made a duck in the last, but a brisk 29 in between suggested he was prepared to attack as required early in his innings. Rohit began with two ducks, but then struck his fifth ton in the format to rescue India after a shaky start, showing that technical acumen and taking your time can still have a place. Despite what was assumed earlier, they were back in the fray to play in the T20 World Cup later this year. Jay Shah has now confirmed Rohit will lead India at the tournament.

In Rohit’s absence, Hardik captained India in 13 successive matches. Under him, six players made their T20I debuts, which increased to 11 overall under different skippers between the T20 World Cup in 2022 and the end of 2023 (though this includes the Asian Games, played with a second-string squad). India had already tried to adopt a new T20I template in the build-up to the 2022 T20 World Cup, only for those bad old wicket-preserving habits to return to their detriment in the knockouts. The influx of the younger crop brought more positivity.

Of the many to debut for India, two batters, in particular, stood out – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rinku Singh. Shubman Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad are not far behind, but those are at the top of the tree. Having impressed with their temperament and stroke play in the IPL, the two carried their form in T20Is as well. Jaiswal, who has opened the innings in all 16 of his appearances, has scored 502 runs at a strike rate of 161.93. Among all Full Member openers, with a 500-run cut-off, only England’s Phil Salt and New Zealand’s Finn Allen have a higher strike rate. The next-best batter on the list, for India, is Rohit, with a strike rate of 142.10.

Rinku, who shot to fame after hitting five sixes in a row in the final over to win an IPL game for Kolkata Knight Riders, has been even more lethal: In 11 innings, he has struck at 176.23 at an average of 89. That includes seven not outs, but the role of the finisher is to come in, score quickly, and ideally not get out, and he has done that to perfection, with an unbeaten half-century in his most recent game, rescuing India from 22-4, showing he can do more than just hit big at the death. As with Jaiswal, these are early days, but his scoring rate is the fastest of any Full Member batter with a 200-run cut-off. He is only one of three batters to have a strike rate of more than 150 for India in T20Is (Suryakumar Yadav and Jaiswal are the others on the list) and his IPL heroics, where he has struck at 149.30 in the last two seasons, display how dangerous he can be over a larger sample.

Jaiswal and Rinku, 22 and 26 years old respectively, could be two of the next all-format stars for India. But even if their time will come, and even if it’s harsh to say so, it will be tough to slot in both players in the T20 World Cup now that Rohit has been confirmed as skipper. Besides him, Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav are nailed on to be selected.

Kohli is neither the captain nor the vice-captain, also had a year-long break like Rohit. His struggles against spin are well-documented and the T20 die-hards have questioned his true value for some time. Yet he also has a terrific record in the T20 World Cup, averaging 81.5, and in the 2022 edition played one of the all-time great innings to ace a chase against Pakistan. Also, he’s Virat Kohli, a legend of the game. It’s almost certain he will be picked if he is available for selection.

That leaves Rohit, Jaiswal, Kohli, SKY, Pandya and Rinku as six players with compelling cases for top six selection. The issue is that India need a keeper. They have middle-order options such as Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson, less proven at the international level, but required to do less per game with the bat. Or they have top-order keepers in KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan. Then there is Rishabh Pant, who is likely to bat but not keep in IPL 2024.

If they go with an opening keeper, that will likely mean Jaiswal moving aside, but a middle-order keeper does not necessarily mean Rinku making way. Kohli could open with Rohit, with SKY moving up to No.3. But it’s hard to see how they can play both.

India are expected to go in with five bowlers (including an all-rounder) with Hardik as their sixth bowling option. Hardik is still recuperating from an ankle injury he suffered in the ODI World Cup and is also injury-prone, which makes it unlikely that he will be asked to complete his four overs every game. The exact bowling combination will depend on form and conditions but it effectively leaves just one batting slot open.

That slot should go to Jaiswal if India need to pick one, as unfortunate as it may seem to Rinku. India have struggled with powerplay impetus and had the fourth-worst strike rate in the first six overs in the 2022 T20 World Cup, after UAE, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Rohit’s strike rate, in particular, was a bone of contention, and he has struggled to get going in the IPL as well. While his ODI aggression suggests a reinvention is possible, Jaiswal promises to go hard from the start and Suryakumar can then keep the momentum going. A big-hitting opener is the bigger need for India without whom they will be playing catch-up through the innings.

But the fact that a potential superstar will have to miss out only makes India’s persistence with their old guns all the more baffling. Rohit and Kohli have been loyalists for well over a decade, but increasingly you wonder if their time in the shortest format has gone. The worry is that part of the motivation is giving them the fairytale farewell they never got after failing to win the ODI World Cup and that doing so could cost India another tilt at global glory.